A month later Iwabee looked over the new clothes, he'd selected black trousers, a dull red shirt and a black jacket with an emblem on the back of it. He'd never worn that symbol before but he felt pride in wearing it, it had been his clan's emblem. Since he came from a long line of shinobi, he'd felt disgraced at the idea of wearing it while in the academy. Since his second mission however, he felt a bit of shame in wearing that emblem.

He was now a genin, and his forehead protector was attached to his belt, similar to how some would wear a keychain. Her outfit had changed a little as well, opting for black leggings instead of the grey. She now wore a white sleeveless shirt that secured itself at the back of her neck and the same cherry blossom print button up shirt over that. She wore black sandals on her feet. His first mission had been something he felt really distraught over. He and his group had to pull a giant turnip out of the ground. The next mission was a little better, they'd be repairing a bridge.

However they were warned that the Byakuya Gang could be lurking around and were advised to not engaged without a jonin level shinobi. When the gang attacked, his anger and pride overwhelmed him and he engaged them, the resulting conflict had resulted in Metal being hospitalized. Udon sensei had confined him to his home, but it didn't end there. While Sakiya had hugged him and expressed relief that he was unharmed, she didn't hold back in expressing her disappointment that he'd let his temper get the better of him and that someone else was now paying the price for his restlessness. The punishment for this was mounted on top of Udon's disciplinary action: he wasn't allowed out of her sight for anything except washroom trips. Which meant he had to sleep in the same room as her, they alternated between his room and hers, with one of them sleeping on the floor and the other in bed. She kept tabs on him while he slept by binding them together by a metallic rope that attached to their respective wrists. Which also meant if the person in bed turned over, so did the person on the floor. Even though he was skilled in ninjutsu, and was able to escape every other trap that had been thrown at him in the academy, he couldn't escape this rope, or move it.

He figured it had to be something from her world, something beyond his ability to manipulate. For three days and three nights it went on like this until she asked him, "so do you like being observed like a young child who can't recognize danger?"

The question drove home the point both she and Udon were impressing upon him, he closed his eyes, shook his head from side to side and replied, "no."

"Next time you're in that situation and you've been given strict orders, are you going to disobey them knowing you're in over your head?"

"No ma'am," he answered.

"Well then we're back to separate rooms tonight, and no you don't have to stay on the couch while I paint. Go occupy your mind with something of interest," Sakiya advised. Yet he didn't move, he heard her put down her palette and brush, she walked and wordlessly sat beside him. He avoided eye contact while asking, "what was that rope made of?"

A knowing smirk crossed her lips while she stated, "You tried to free yourself a few times, and found it impossible to do so."

She gave a small giggle as she conceded, "not surprising. Truth is that rope also impacted my abilities the last three days. If I'm exposed to that rope for too long I could lose my powers temporarily. It's infused with a substance called sekiseki stone. Before it becomes stone it's liquefied and the rope is lightly coated with it. Sekiseki stone blocks reiatsu, but also absorbs it. Chakra is a combination of nature energy and reiatsu, so it's not surprising you couldn't escape it. Without being able to access your reiatsu while that rope was on you, you'd be unable to perform any tasks requiring chakra."

Geez! Why would she have access to such a thing if it could negatively impact her as well? Unless, well she'd never spoken of it but he supposed if there was ever a time to bring it up that time would be now. He glanced at her and inquired, "is that something they brought along for their mission?"

No answer, no obvious change in demeanor to anyone who didn't know her as well he did. Her jaw tensed ever so slightly, a behaviour he hadn't seen in her before. She wordlessly got up and crossed the room. Picking up her brush and palette she suggested, "why not go do a workout in your room, Iwabee?"

He nodded a little in full understanding, she wouldn't talk about it. Whatever it was, it was considered top secret in their world, as far as he could tell it would be nearly Kage level of discretion if it were a Shinobi mission.

As he turned to head out of the room he expressed, "you know, you're the one person in my life I could always count on. If you need help with something, I'll help in any way that I can—and I'm certain Lord Seventh would be willing to help out as well, all the village Shinobi would. No matter where your parents came from, you were born here. That makes you a citizen of the hidden leaf village."

Silence followed this admission and he felt his stomach knotting, wondering if maybe he'd offended or upset her when all he meant to do was offer a reminder that she wasn't completely alone. After what felt like eternity to him he heard her answer, "it's my responsibility, Iwabee, as are you. I appreciate the sentiment but there's very little anyone native to this world could do."

'Although, Mystic palm and Kaido do share similar properties, I wonder if Sakura Uchiha could help with the others… that might be worth making an inquiry. Or having some skilled Shinobi help me escort one of them to a body of water safely, submerging one of them in particular may help them recover their strength faster and allow them to wake up,' Sakiya wondered to himself.

Iwabee nodded in acknowledgement of her reply and headed off to her room. She inwardly sighed as she silently wished to herself that she could tell him more, but doing so would risk him, the mission, and everything the others stood for. She touched up a few more areas on the painting and stood back. She'd have to wait for the current paint to dry before she continued but she was almost done with the memorial piece that she had been commissioned for.